NY PUBLIC LIBRARY THE BRANCH LIBRARIES 3 3333 05968 1201 I* 108.5 Blackstone 5769 New pieces that will take prizes in speaking contests Please return this book promptly and keep it in good condition for the next borrower. Remember YOU WILL BE THE NEXT BORROWER OF SOME OTHER BoosI ,"„ •. "- lar.S'ffS tv : \ READING ROOM .-.affl*« on- • •' New Pieces That Will Take Prizes In Speaking Contests COMPILED AND ADAPTED BY Harriet Blackstonc Instructor in th? Art of Sneaking- and Dramatic Art, Galesburg High. School, Galesburg, III. COPYRIGHT, irgox, >i\>>{iiNDsi& Hinds, Noble & Eldredg-e, Publishers 31-33-35 West 1 5th Street - - New York City. THE NEW YOKK PUBLIC LIBRARY 5789 ASTO*. LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATION!, for your library The Worth of Words (Bell) .... How to Study Literature (Heydrick) A Brief Outline of the Books I Have Read How Nature Study Should Be Taught (Bigelow) Nature Study Lessons (Crawford) Lessons on Manners — Morals (Dewey) Character (Varnum) ...... The Man Who Pleases and the Woman Who Charms Who's Who in Mythology .... *-,. Who's Who in History ...... Seeley's The Foundations of Education Seeley's A New School Management ... Gordy's A Broader Elementary Education The 20th Century Educational Problems The Science of Study (Moore) ... Cook's Psychology (A Simplified Exposition) Stout's The Groundwork of Psychology Stout's Manual of Psychology .... Mackenzie's Manual of Ethics .... How to Become Quick at Figures .... A Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms Common Errors in Writing and Speaking A, B, C of EIec,tricjty , ,.,.,,,„,,., Fifty' P)'ofjt^bte Gcciipatidns. - «' • •' HWdS, 'NOBLE & *1 -33-35 W«l'./;/.s->- . 233 CONTENTS TITLE AUTHOR PAGE Mistress Sherwood's Victory . . Eva L. Ogden . . . 240 The Angel and the Shepherds . Lew Wallace .... 248 The King of Boyville .... William Allen White . 253 Nominating General Grant . . Roscoe Conkling . . . 261 The Governor's Last Levee . . Sara Beaumont Kennedy 267 Joam Dacosta Jules Verne .... 277 Grandma Keeler Gets Grandpa Kee- ler Ready for Sunday School . Sally Pratt McLean . 286 Bob Henry W. Grady . . 292 The Fiddle Told Nora C. Franklin . . 299 Winners by Their Own Lengths . Ralph Connor . . . 307 How the Church Was Built at Ke- hoe's Bar John Bennett . . . 313 "Boots " Adapted 319 The Prisoner's Plea Adapted 326 The Equinoctial Storm . . . . F. Hopkinson Smith . . 334 Gordon's Reprieve Adapted 344 The Hero of the Day Adapted 352 The Wooing of Miss Woppit . . Eugene Field . . . 360 The Stirring Up of Billy Williams Harry Stillwell Edwards 370 The Sheriff's Honor Harriet Blackstone . 377 President McKinley's Last Address Abridged 385 NEW 1MECES FOR PRIZE SPEAKING CONTESTS. The Honor of the Woods. ADAPTED. Our hero, John Norton, the old trapper, is an ideal woods- man, and his companion whom he calls " the lad" is a character hardly less remarkable than the old man himself. When our story opens, we find the two friends about to take part in a great boat race to be rowed on the lower Sara- nac, which is to be the event of the season, and which has attracted not only the oarsmen of the wilderness but even professionals from New York. John Norton is a famous oarsman, and the lad, who has also wonderful ability at the oars, has shrunk from com- petition with one who has been to him a father ; and, although the trapper has persuaded him to enter the race, the youth now firmly resolves not to put forth his utmost effort unless it is to save the honor of the woods. IT was hicrh noon on the Saranac and a o brighter day was never seen. The sky was so intensely blue" that it fairly gleamed. All was expectation, for a great crowd had gathered in I 2 NEW PIECES FOR PRIZE SPEAKING. anticipation of the races, and the thought that they were to see the celebrated trapper and scout of whom they had read and heard so much, stirred them with the feeling of intense curiosity. Indeed, two parties had already sprung up. In the crowd were several aged men who could well remember the great fame which the old trapper had had as an oarsman fifty years before, when they and he were young ; and the con- victions of these old men were well expressed in the strong assertion of one of their number who closed a heated verbal contest with : " I tell ye, sir, there ain't a man on God's airth who can beat John Norton at the oars." On the other hand, the professionals who were to row had their advocates. Fine, spruce college boys, " doing the woods ; ' English tourists, strong-built and burly fellows, affecting the heavy sportsman's style ; quiet city gentlemen, whose knowledge of boating was limited to the news- paper accounts of the annual race between Yale and Harvard. Thus stood the feeling and the crowd when the boat with the lad at the oars and the trapper at the paddle came into view. Nothing could exceed the fineness of the tribute paid to the fame of the old trapper, for as the boat approached, the talking ceased, and a stillness more impressive by far than the loudest cheering greeted the old man. He was THE HONOR OF Till: WOODS. 3 bareheaded as usual, and the full exposure of his countenance and forehead showed the noble majesty of a face to which years had given a characterization and dignity that was truly im- posing. The boat came nearly to a pause within fifty feet of the landing, when suddenly an old white- haired man, who had been gazing fixedly at the trapper, flourished his stick and shouted with a voice that trembled with the intensity of his emotion, "John Norton! He saved my life at the battle of Salt Licks forty years ago : three cheers for John Norton ! Then a cheer arose which burst the stillness into fragments and, thrice repeated, rolled its roar across the lake. Then for the first time did the old trapper realize the honor which by voice and silence alike was being shown him. For an instant the color came and went in his face and a gleam as of firelight came into his eyes. He arose and stood at utmost height, erect as a pine, stood for a moment with a grace that a trained courtier might have envied. Then he settled to his seat and the boat approached the landing. The free-for-all was to be pulled at one o'clock. The entries stood six in all ; three professionals, a forest guide known as Fred, the trapper and the lad. It was now five minutes of one o'clock and the boats were already in position. The course was 4 NEW PIECES FOR PRIZE SPEAKING. straight down the lake to a line of buoys and was just four miles — two out and two back. " Now, Fred," said the trapper, speaking to the young guide on his right, "ye must remember that a four-mile race be a good deal of a pull, and the goin' off ain't half so decidin' as the comin in. Now I don't see that we kin afford to waste any time even the first half mile, fer them perfessionals hev come here to row, and they look to me as if they had a good deal o' that sort o' work in 'em. Still, if ye don't think ye be pull- in' fast enough, take your own lick, fer I wouldn't spile yer chances o' wallopin' them perfessionals to-day fer all the money on earth.? " Do you think we shall win, old trapper?' said Fred. "I dunno, I dunno, boy. I sartinly dunno. I like yer build but I don't like yer oars, especially that left one, fer there's a kink in the shank of it that hadn't orter be there, and I fear the pesky thing'll play a trick on ye at the finish." " Yours' are big enough to hold, anyway, and I hope to heaven you'll win." "Thank ye, boy, thank ye. Yis, I sartinly shall try, fer it would be a mortal shame to hev the prize go out of the woods. If nothin' gives way, I'll give 'em a touch of the stuff that's in me ferthe last half mile that'll make 'em git down to their work in earnest. But if anything does happen and we can't do it, I have great hopes of THE HONOR OF THE WOODS. 5 the lad here, fer his gifts at the oars be \vondcr- ful. He can beat us both but Ills spirit is agin' it ; he thinks it would tickle an old man's vanity to win the race, so he won't half try. But if he'd only pull like I seed him pull the day afore yesterday, he'll- " Read}' tin-re !' said the sharp, clear voice of the starter, " Ready there for the word." " Now, lad," said the trapper hoarsely, " don't ye fergit yer promise, and if anything happens or ye see I can't win and I give ye the word, John Norton'll never fergive ye if ye don't pull like a sinner runnin' from the judgment." " Ready there, all of you. One, two, three, Go ! ' The oars of the three professionals dropped into the water as if their blades were controlled by one man, but the guide and the trapper, being in heavier boats, were at least a full length behind before they had fairly got into motion. Their stroke was long, steads', and to the lookers-on, leisurely pulled. The lad was the last to get off and so careh and ungainly was his appearance and so little snap did he evince, that the crowd who cheered the passage of the others laughed and groaned and roared as he swung along. For forty rods the race continued without any change in the relative positions of the six boats. A prettier sight than the three leading boats presented never gladdened a boatman's heart or stirred the 0 NEW PIECES FOR PRIZE SPEAKING. gazer's blood. The oars flashed, dropped, and flashed again, as the oarsmen swept their blades ahead as if regulated by machinery. Some rods behind, the trapper and Fred were pulling side by side and stroke for stroke, long, strong, and steady. " I tell ye, Fred," said the old man to the young guide by his side, " them perfessionals hev got their match in ye fer quickness if I'm any judge. Yis, yis, boy, I understand ye, but don't ye worry ; it's a long pull and a strong back that's goin' to win this race ; but if ye be nervous we'll lengthen out a leetle, just to show 'em that we ain't more than half asleep. Come, lad," called the trapper to his comrade astern, " hist along a leetle faster, fer we be goin' to let out a link or two." So saying the old man set his comrade a stroke so long and sharply pulled that the two boats were even in a moment end to end with the boats ahead. There was a roar of astonishment and wild de- light from the spectators. The spurt revealed the tremendous power of the trapper. The old men in the crowd were nearly beside themselves as they saw him rush his boat ahead. They swung their hats, they shook each other's hands, they actually wept, while the old fellow, who had repeated it at least twenty times before, again asserted, " I tell ye, there ain't a man on God's airth can beat John Norton at the oars." /•///•: //t>.\'OA' o/-' /'//A WOODS. 7 Thus tlu- boats rushed on their \vay each head- ing as straight toward its appointed course ;«s a bullet could fly, while the multitude, now far astern, watched with eager eyes and bated breath the receding race. At last a man with stentorian lungs, who stood on the ridge of the boathouse, shouted, " They have turned the buoys! they have turned the buoys ! The professionals are ahead ! ' " How far behind is John Norton ? " said the man on the wharf. " He and Fred are four rods astern at least," bellowed the man in reply. " Where's the lad ? " " Oh ! He's out of the race, full five rods be- hind the trapper and Fred ! ' By this time the boats were plain to view, and the stillness which had settled on the cro\vd was absolutely oppres- sive, for the contestants \vere barely a mile away. " Now, Fred," said the trapper, " the time has sartinly come fer us to show the grit that's in us. Be ye ready fer the stroke ? Long and quick, i " noii' ! The young man obeyed the trapper to a frac- tion. He threw the full force of his enormous strength for which he was noted into his stroke. The cords of his large neck stood out like ropes ; his nostrils dilated ; his face fairly sharpened for the effort ; but the sudden vigor of his stroke was too much for the wood. The miserable oar 8 NEW PIECES FOR PRIZE SPEAKING. to which the trapper had alluded parted with a crash. The boat careened, swayed, swooped suddenly aside, and the young man, unable to recover his balance, fell headlong into the lake. The trapper was now thoroughly roused. The boats were within a hundred rods of the home line and the lad full ten astern. The roar of the crowd was deafening. The professionals were pulling grittily. The old man's eyes fairly gleamed. Through the roar of the multitude, who were literally frantic with excitement, his ear caught the voice, " John Norton, now is your The old man gathered himself for a supreme effort. His blood was up and the lion in him fairly roused. Never before was such a stroke pulled and never before was such a catastrophe. The blades were too broad and strong to yield ; the boat was too heavy to get away quickly enough ; his oars too strong to part at the stroke ; his tre- mendous effort tore the rowlocks from the gun- wales as if they had been made of paper and the old man measured his length in the bottom of the boat. The catastrophe was so sudden and so unex- pected in its character that it hushed the roar of the multitude as if an awful visitation had terri- fied them into silence. Even the professionals intermitted a stroke and the lad turned his face nil-: HONOR oi' /•///•: WOODS. about. The old man had risen and was standing erect in his boat still holding the huge oars in his mighty hands. His eyes (lamed and his face \vas bloodless with unutterable rage; he shook the heavy oars in the air as if they had been reeds, and shouted with a voice that shook the air like the roar of the desert lion challenging combat : " Lad, now pull for John Norton's sake and save his gray hairs from shame. Pull with every ounce of strength that God Almighty give ye or the honor of the woods be gone." It seemed as if the strength of the trapper, through the medium of his awful appeal, had actually been imparted to the lad. His head got suddenly erect upon his shoulders, his body straightened as if fashioned into perfect symmetry. His stroke lengthened to the full reach of oar and arm. The oars bent like whipsticks. The Hash of the blades in the recovery was so quick that the eye barely caught the gleam. His boat sprang, flew, flashed, and as it jumped past the trapper, the old man again suddenly shook his oars and shouted, " Go it, lad : the honor of the woods is on ye. Ye'll beat 'em yit, sure as judgment day ! ' Except the voice of the trapper, not a sound was heard ; the feeling was too intense. One of the professionals threw the oars ; the others pulled in grim desperation ; their faces white as chalk but grit to the last. They pulled IO NEW PIECES FOR PRIZE SPEAKING. but pulled in vain, for the boat caught them within fifty feet of the landing and shot across half a length in front. The race was over and the " honor of the woods " was saved. The Inmate of the Dungeon. W. C. MORROW. Adapted from " The Ape, The Idiot, and Other Stories," published by J. B. Lippincott Company. Used by special permission of the author and publishers. THE Board of State Prison Directors was sit- ting in session at the prison. The chairman — a nervous, energetic man — glanced at a slip of paper in his hand and said to the warden : " Send a guard for convict No. 14,208." The warden bowed stiffly and directed a guard to produce the convict. He was a tall, fine-look- ing man, well-bred and intelligent. Though or- dinarily cool, he was unable to conceal a strong emotion, which looked much like fear. The convict shambled in painfully and labori- ously, as with a string he held up from the floor the heavy iron ball which was chained to his ankles. There had been no time to prepare him for /•///. L\MATK OS- THE DUNGEON. II presentation to the Board. The dingy suit of prison stripes which covered his gaunt frame was frayed and tattered ; his hair had not been re- cently cut to the prison fashion, and, being re- bellious, stood out from his head like bristles ; and his beard, which, like his hair, was heavily dashed with gray, had not been shaved f»»r weeks. His forehead was massive, his head of fine proportions, his jaw square and strong, and his thin, high nose showed 'races of an ancestry that must have made a mark in the world at some time in history. Upon stumbling weakly into the room, faint with the labor of walking, he dropped the ball, which struck the floor with a loud sound, and his long, bony fingers tore at the striped shirt over his breast. A groan escaped him, and he would have sunk to the floor had not the guard caught him and held him upright. In a moment it was over, and then, collapsing with exhaustion, he sank into a chair. The chairman turned sharply to the guard. " Why did you manacle this man," he demanded, " when he is evidently so weak, and when none of the others were manacled ? ' " Why, sir," stammered the guard, " surely you know who this man is ; he is the most dan- gerous and desperate- " We know all about that. Remove his man- acles.' 12 NEW PIECES FOR PRIZE SPEAKING. The guard obeyed. The chairman in a kindly manner said, " Do you know who we are ? " " No." " We are the State Prison Directors. We have heard of your case and we want you to tell us the whole truth about it." " I suppose you want me to make a complaint. I've no complaint to make." The chairman rose, passed around an intervening table, went up to the convict and laid a hand on his gaunt shoulder. " I know," said he, " that you are a patient and uncomplaining man, or we should have heard from you long ago. There are fifteen human beings in this prison, and they are under the absolute control of one man. If a serious wrong is practised upon one, it may be upon others. I ask you in the name of common humanity to put us in the way of working justice in this prison. Speak out, therefore, like a man, and have no fear of anything." The convict was touched. " There is nothing in this world that I fear. I will tell you all about it. " I was sent up for twenty years for killing a man. I hadn't been a criminal, but he had robbed me and wronged me. I came here thir- o teen years ago. I worked faithfully, sir ; I did everything they told me to do. I did so well that my credits piled up and after I had been 77//1 1 \MATE 01' THE DL'.\G l:ON. 13 here ten years I cmikl see my way out. I wanted to be a free man again, and I planned to away somewhere and make the fight all over, -to be a man in the world once more. " Then my trouble began. You know they were doing some heavy work in the quarries and on the grades, and they wanted the strongest men in the prison. And I was one of 'em that they put on the heavy work. They used to pay the men for extra work, — not pay 'em money, but the value of the money in tobacco, extra clothes, and things like that. On Saturdays the men who had done extra work would fall in and go up to the captain of the guard, and he would give to each man what was coming to him. " One Saturday I fell in line with the others. A good many were ahead of me in the line, and when they got what they wanted they fell into a new line waiting to be marched to the cells. \\Tien my turn came I went up to the captain and said I would take mine in tobacco. He looked at me pretty sharply, and said, ' How did you get back in that line ? You've had your extra ; you got tobacco.' I said I hadn't got my extra, and hadn't been up before. He said, 4 Don't spoil your record by trying to steal a little tobacco. Fall in.' .... It hurt me, sir. I wasn't a thief and no living man had a right to call me a thief. I said to him, straight, ' I won't fall in till I